hello fellow iconers;
i'll be going from this:
[to] 
i decided to do very lovely ashlee simpson. i started with this pic,
then cropped it down and resized to 100x100. i noticed it was way blurry, so i sharpened it three times.
now i can finally start.
i made a new layer and added #0A1474 to it. set it to exclusion 100%.
i made another new layer and added this gradient which i made
. set it to overlay 100%. 
im not sure who this is by but i used this
and i set that to screen 100%.
i then duplicated my base, destaturated it, then set to overlay 100%.
again i added the sparkling thing to make it more visible. i set it at overlay 100%
i then added
i just used the deform tool to make it to the size i wanted it. set it at normal 44%.
i then erased the parts that were covering ashlee. so all you could see was her eye in the corner.i also used the sharpened tool on the eye.
i then added the sparkly thing again and set to overlay 100%
i made a new layer and in century gothic 12pt. i wrote "ashlee". i then took my rectangle tool and cut off the bottom of "ashlee". i set it at 43%. then in a new layer i used my rectangle tool to make a line under "ashlee". i set that at 55%. then in a new layer i wrote random crap using century gothic 2pt.
i then added the heart resized it. set it at multiply at 56%.
then i merged.
yay.
done.
id love to see what you guys get!